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Hi, my name is Kyle Porter.
Thanks for signing up to receive our newsletter, the Normal Sporter. If you’re new to the concept, we try to look at golf from a bit of a different angle. We like to say the newsletter is about golf, but sometimes only barely.
We cover everything from Spieth hitting golf balls into gutters to Augusta National grass lengths to which 4Aces basketball jersey I’d consider rocking to the pool this summer.
If you’re amused by any of the above, you’re probably going to love the newsletter. If you’re just here for the Masters merch giveaway, that’s OK too!
Regardless, we appreciate you reading and following along — especially during Masters week when there’s so much content to consume.
Hey,
Many of you signed up this week because of our Masters giveaway, which will start on Wednesday. We will be giving away one box of Masters merchandise every day, Wednesday through Sunday.
After promoting this, we unexpectedly hit 10K subscribers on Monday. I say unexpectedly because this time last week we only had 7K. Because the response over the last few days has been so massive, I’m going to throw in another box for every 2K more subscribers we hit this week.
I plan on making a big run to the merch tent on Wednesday and picking our first winner on Wednesday evening. We’re going to try and send out several newsletters this week with bits and pieces of all the absurd golf content you’ve come to expect but also with updates on giveaway winners.
The numbers changing is great and exciting, but nothing will be different about the newsletter. I have become quite content with what it is and who it’s for. It’s a thrill to write it every week. It will still be the same ridiculous thoughts from me. Still the same preposterous Spieth takes and heartfelt Rory and Rahm content. Still all the deranged Twitter screenshots you can handle.
Just maybe a few more people reading and enjoying them.
Let’s have a week!
Onto the news.
1. Rory1 shared a story last week about how his daughter, as he was getting ready to go get a lesson from Butch Harmon, told him, “But dada, you already know how to play golf.” 😳
That he would share this and react the way he did tells you a lot about the player and the person. I’ve written about this idea a lot, but the fact that one of the, what … 25? 20? 15? best golfers ever needs to be reminded that he’s good at golf is both endearing and relatable.
That he would have the self-awareness to recognize his daughter’s insight in the moment is both amusing and instructive. I believe that so much of what he struggles with at the 15-year mountaintop is so often psychological because of his self-awareness.
His pull is toward being a normal, grounded human. The pursuit (and realization) of greatness in golf often pushes you in the opposite direction. His desire is toward self-belief and confidence as a human. The result (and recognition of) badness in golf — even for the greats — pushes you in the opposite direction.
When you are constantly being kept from the way you want to live life by this thing that you perform at and participate in — no matter whether you’re playing great or playing terrible — well, that’s tiring. We all probably feel this in less pronounced ways in our own jobs. I know I do anyway.
It’s meaningful to have moments of simplicity — especially from our kids — and to recognize them when they come into our spheres. This is maybe even more true when success at the task at hand is so dependent on where we’re at mentally as is true in golf.
Balancing all of this is often the toughest thing in the world.
2. Also, quietly, all of this is Scottie Scheffler’s superpower. He’s almost preternaturally gifted at being confidently grounded. He balances the swagger of Brooks with the forgetfulness of DJ with the humility of Webb in a way that seems incongruent. I’ve not really seen anything like it in golf.
Rory talked last week about how to win the Masters, and he almost perfectly summed up Scottie’s last two years here, even though he never mentioned Scottie’s name at all.
Q. You said on Wednesday that good Augusta golf is boring golf. Is that kind of what you're playing now?
RORY McILROY: “Yeah, yeah, that's it, yeah. Ton of pars.”
Q. Continuing that to next week?
RORY McILROY: “Yeah, yeah, for sure. Yeah, that's the -- and not just for big major championship golf, that is what you need to do.”
Q. Is that difficult to kind of get in that mindset, because you do see pins and you do 2 see things --
RORY McILROY: “Yeah, I can do it. Like LACC, the U.S. Open last year is probably the best example of me doing that, was very patient. St. Andrews a little bit, even though the scoring was low. Same sort of thing, you pick and choose where you're aggressive and then you're conservative a lot of the time. You add it up at the end of the week, you're always going to be pretty close.”
Q. Is there something mentally that you do kind of right in the moment or is that just something that you focus on in advance?
RORY McILROY: “I think it's something -- I think it's an acceptance that you're going to make a lot of pars, it's maybe going to feel frustrating at times, but knowing that you're not losing ground by doing it and accepting that fact, that's a big key to it.”
I think it’s an acceptance that you’re going to make a lot of pars. This sounds a lot like what Scottie is always preaching about internalizing a moment and moving on.
Rory on Masters week:
“Yeah, just to me next week is all about discipline, about staying in control of yourself and in control of what you can control. If I can do that well, then the rest will follow”
— Rory Tracker (@RoryTrackr)
Apr 7, 2024
Acceptance is one of those things that is simple but not easy, especially for the most gifted in the world in a given craft.
Just because you can do something doesn’t mean you should. Scottie is so good at understanding and practicing this in ways that most of the other best hitters in the world are not (looking at you, Jordan).
3. Speaking of Jordy, we need to address his possible Mona Lisa last week. I felt absolutely #blessed to have been watching this live as it unfolded.
Everything else that went down obscured the fact that he nearly jammed his neck into a tree to hit the second shot.
Which led to this iconic moment.
And then the decision to … you know what … go even farther left off the roof of what appears to be a lodge in an attempt to get the greatest (and longest?) drop in golf history (which he did).
It reminded me of those times when he blocks a drive and instead of saying, “hit something” he says, “get WAY right.” That always makes me laugh.
The only thing that kept it from being the greatest moment in Spieth history is 1. TPC San Antonio isn’t Royal Birkdale and those cowboy boots aren’t the Claret Jug and 2. He made double and not a birdie or a par.
Mildly related: Today he called last week “calming” and a “settling down",” which, you know, kinda says it all.
4. I asked the question last week of which two golfers could pull off the show LeBron and JJ Redick are making. If you haven’t seen it, two hoops junkies getting steep on stuff like pocket passes and inbounds plays. It’s awesome.
One media friend reached out this week and asked me if it’s a little too deep in the weeds. I wrote about why it is too deep but also I don’t think that matters in a newsletter last weekend.
That’s not the point, though. The point is that last week I asked which two golfers could pull this off, and the answers were pretty hilarious.
The takeaway: I’m not positive who the two are, but one of them has to be Phil. Watch him in this clip below talking about cut spin out of a bunker on No. 10 at Augusta.
Get him a moderately priced bottle of pinot noir, and we’re off to the races.
Do we talk enough about the alternate universe where Phil is the greatest color commentator in the history of sports?
— Andy Lack (@adplacksports)
Apr 3, 2024
As for who I personally would pair with him … Spieth or Rahm would both be pretty good. They could both match the crazy and take it as deep or as shallow as you want. Trevino would be outrageous, though I worry he would overshadow Phil a bit (which is an insane thing to say).
You need the Redick role though. The host who can jump in and out of the convo but also keep the whole thing moving along the right line and also somebody who’s a little amused by Phil’s entire aura.
Somebody like a Trevor Immelman. Maybe an Adam Scott. Low key sickos who are fun and soothing to listen to. You’d have to test the Phil chemistry to see who he meshed with best. Regardless, I’d watch hours of him talking spin and slopes on different holes at Augusta.
5. An infirmary alert: my friend LKD starting a tweet with the phrase, “I’ve been on a Tom Weiskopf golf swing bender the past few weeks.” He might need help.
6. The Masters stat I’m fixated on this week for whatever reason is 1.7. In the last 12 Masters, 10 of them have been won by golfers who averaged at least 1.7 strokes gained tee to green over the three months leading into the event (only Reed in 2018 and Hideki in 2021 do not meet that criteria).
Your six qualifiers this year (this doesn’t include LIV boys because the data on them, which exists, is still a little sketch but you can probably throw Rahm and Niemann in there, too).
7. Some fun media things to check out during Masters week.
👉️ This trailer made the rounds last week, but it’s worth posting again here. A special on Cat’s 2019 victory. The first 45 seconds from inside the production truck are completely insane.
👉️ The Masters + emotional videos of parents returning from deployment to see their children? Yes.
👉️ The story of Andy Warhol and Jack Nicklaus is great. Jack having no idea who Warhol is amused me.
👉️ Scottie Scheffler on ketchup bottles (trust me, it’s worth it).
👉️ More here on the empathy of Augusta and Porath on why it rocks that the fan is taken seriously here.
It’s the club’s strong, singular voice that enables it to prioritize the tournament for all. This runs in contrast with the player-run landmines of the tours and the internecine battles that result from trying to align not just the entire membership, but even the smaller elected boards.
It’s an advantage Augusta has held onto since its founders pursued it at the tournament’s outset. For a patron (or fan), it’s always been noticeable. But at this current moment in pro golf, it’s an approach that stands apart even more.
8. A more Bryson photo has never been taken. This is the one.
9. I don’t want to burst Greg Norman’s bubble here,2 but not only is Talor Gooch not the best iron player of the last 20 years, I don’t even think he’s the fifth-best iron player from north central Oklahoma in the last seven years.
Also, I did not see a Jay Payton reference coming out of this, but here we are.
10. It got covered up by Spieth’s gutter ball, but Lottie Woad’s 3-3 finish to win the ANWA was wild.
It’s insane to finish 3-3 anywhere to win a tournament. Then to do it on that golf course, on those holes, under those circumstances? Come on.
11. Honestly — I don’t even think this is a bit — I think I would wear a REED 4 Aces jersey. Can you imagine a baseball team selling golf shirts in its merchandise area? Well, you could get a Corey Seager away Rangers jersey OR perhaps we can interest you in a Corey Seager Holderness and Bourne polo with a Rawlings logo on the left chest and an Oakley logo on the sleeve?
12. I loved this old Bobby Jones quote that Craig Perks tweeted the other day. It also gets brought up in this Making of the Masters podcast series, which is an amazing listen. Here it is.
“We hope to make bogeys easy if frankly sought, pars readily obtainable by standard good play, and birdies, except on par fives, dearly bought.”
I’m not positive this is still the case for reasons that have been discussed ad nauseam. But the magic of Augusta, as has been pointed out by people a lot smarter than me, is that it is easy for a bad player like me to play it well but difficult for a great player like Justin Thomas to play it well. It reminds me of a Pixar movie, in that sense. Entertaining enough for a child to find interest but thoughtful enough that an adult wants to watch. That is so, so difficult to pull off.
13. Is it more shocking that AK didn’t know that Brooks won back to back U.S. Opens or the DJ knew that he did?
14. Your meme of the week is a great one.
It also prompted a question from me — what will Spieth do this week? — that got some amazing answers. Here are a couple of them.
I legitimately have no idea what he’s going to do this week. Only that I cannot wait to both experience it and hear him talk about. If last week was “calming,” then what does the stress of this week look like?
There’s a reason Jason Page illustrated Spieth as a roller coaster ride for our first book together.
15. Your normal sport moment of the week: How about a college golfer going 84-61-WD (concussion from walking into a tree)?
Sure.
16. My pick.
I sat in pressers all day on Tuesday, and one of my big takeaways is that Scottie’s game plan and disposition — basically everything I mentioned above — are perfect for major championship golf.
He cares a ton but also somehow the right amount.
He might win by six.
• This tweet destroyed me.
• Somehow missed this one in February, but it’s evergreen hilarious.
• Perfect.
Thanks for reading until the end.
You’re a sicko, and I’m grateful for it.
Masters box No. 1 dropping tomorrow …
1 If you’re new, did you think a newsletter written by me was going to start somewhere else?
2 OK, I do.
